2nd Gen. Drivers side leather
- Thread starter Carlo
- Start date
RE: 2nd Gen. Drivers side leather
I got mine from Max at Five Star Ford.
The part numbers are different for each color, so unless you have a '98 with the black interior, Max will have to look it up. You'll just need to supply him with your interior color code found on the sticker on your driver's side door jamb. Or you can find it here:
http://mark8.org/lod/interior.htm
EDIT: I forgot to mention that you'll also need the build date of your car. Part numbers and prices are different for cars built before and after 10/97 I believe.
The seat bottom, back, and headrest are all sold separately. I only bought the back and bottom, the head rest was fine.
I suppose you're wanting to know how much I paid...
$570 for both the seat back and bottom from Max. Retail from Ford is around $700 I believe. It's a steep price regardless, but I wanted an exact match without having to go with a complete set of leather for everything. I didn't try Torrie at FPN, so I don't know his price.
They make them on demand, so expect to wait about two weeks for it.
IMPORTANT NOTE: The seat back can ONLY be bought with a leather pocket. You WILL NOT be able to get one with a net. So if yours has a net, you'll have to do as I did and have an upholsterer remove the pocket and sew the old net onto the new leather. That cost me another $100, including having him install the seat back. He did a great job. You can't tell any difference between the DS and PS seats at all.
Here's a picture of mine. It was installed in March:
http://mark8.org/users/M_Darrah/mycar/small/markviii06sm.jpg
I'd suggest getting some 1/2 inch foam to build up under it. Mine's already getting some wrinkles, and I may tear it apart again and stuff some foam in there. You can get the foam at most any fabric store.
I got mine from Max at Five Star Ford.
The part numbers are different for each color, so unless you have a '98 with the black interior, Max will have to look it up. You'll just need to supply him with your interior color code found on the sticker on your driver's side door jamb. Or you can find it here:
http://mark8.org/lod/interior.htm
EDIT: I forgot to mention that you'll also need the build date of your car. Part numbers and prices are different for cars built before and after 10/97 I believe.
The seat bottom, back, and headrest are all sold separately. I only bought the back and bottom, the head rest was fine.
I suppose you're wanting to know how much I paid...
$570 for both the seat back and bottom from Max. Retail from Ford is around $700 I believe. It's a steep price regardless, but I wanted an exact match without having to go with a complete set of leather for everything. I didn't try Torrie at FPN, so I don't know his price.
They make them on demand, so expect to wait about two weeks for it.
IMPORTANT NOTE: The seat back can ONLY be bought with a leather pocket. You WILL NOT be able to get one with a net. So if yours has a net, you'll have to do as I did and have an upholsterer remove the pocket and sew the old net onto the new leather. That cost me another $100, including having him install the seat back. He did a great job. You can't tell any difference between the DS and PS seats at all.
Here's a picture of mine. It was installed in March:
http://mark8.org/users/M_Darrah/mycar/small/markviii06sm.jpg
I'd suggest getting some 1/2 inch foam to build up under it. Mine's already getting some wrinkles, and I may tear it apart again and stuff some foam in there. You can get the foam at most any fabric store.
RE: 2nd Gen. Drivers side leather
Ya know what's sad? I was looking at a roughly 10 year old Saab one of the girls at the office drives with over 132K miles, and the tan leather seats in it are just barely starting to show wrinkles, with nary a crack in site - they still look virtually new. Sure, the leather is thicker so it's not quite as supple as a new Mark VIII, but I bought my car with 38K miles and the tan drivers seat was already full of cracks. Ford/Lincoln is definitely known for the soft, supple leather they use, but they're also well known for the severe wrinkling/cracking problems just because it's so thin. I was also looking at the interior of an Infinity the other day with over 100K miles, and the same thing. The leather was obviously much thicker, but it still looked brand new. I'd much prefer thicker leather than the supple, easily worn paper-thin stuff that Ford insists on using...
John
[link:mark8.org/lodnca|NorCal Chapter Website]
http://mark8.org/users/johnaec/Mark_VIII_s.jpg
'97 Mark VIII LSC
'96 T-Bird 4.6L
Ya know what's sad? I was looking at a roughly 10 year old Saab one of the girls at the office drives with over 132K miles, and the tan leather seats in it are just barely starting to show wrinkles, with nary a crack in site - they still look virtually new. Sure, the leather is thicker so it's not quite as supple as a new Mark VIII, but I bought my car with 38K miles and the tan drivers seat was already full of cracks. Ford/Lincoln is definitely known for the soft, supple leather they use, but they're also well known for the severe wrinkling/cracking problems just because it's so thin. I was also looking at the interior of an Infinity the other day with over 100K miles, and the same thing. The leather was obviously much thicker, but it still looked brand new. I'd much prefer thicker leather than the supple, easily worn paper-thin stuff that Ford insists on using...
John
[link:mark8.org/lodnca|NorCal Chapter Website]
http://mark8.org/users/johnaec/Mark_VIII_s.jpg
'97 Mark VIII LSC
'96 T-Bird 4.6L
magic_marker
Registered
RE: 2nd Gen. Drivers side leather
You know, John, I never really noticed that before. But now that I think about it, EVERY post-90s ford car I've owned had wrinkly leather! Towncar, SHO, Mark VIII.
My wife's VW, with almost 50k on it, hardly has a winkle in any of the leather surfaces. And it's pretty comfy.
If only we could go back to the leather (not the fake stuff) used in the cars of the 60s... ::nono::
You know, John, I never really noticed that before. But now that I think about it, EVERY post-90s ford car I've owned had wrinkly leather! Towncar, SHO, Mark VIII.
My wife's VW, with almost 50k on it, hardly has a winkle in any of the leather surfaces. And it's pretty comfy.
If only we could go back to the leather (not the fake stuff) used in the cars of the 60s... ::nono::
RE: 2nd Gen. Drivers side leather
thanks for all the great info everyone. i've been considering this for a little while and expected that type of pricing so i might just do it along with two new headlamp housings @ $75.00 ea. }( and like you said mdarrah i want to get a set match between all the seats also.
thanks all
thanks for all the great info everyone. i've been considering this for a little while and expected that type of pricing so i might just do it along with two new headlamp housings @ $75.00 ea. }( and like you said mdarrah i want to get a set match between all the seats also.
thanks all
magic_marker
Registered
RE: 2nd Gen. Drivers side leather
[div class="dcquote"][strong]Quote[/strong]
While I concur on Ford's use of thin leather, I just wanted to say a '04 F-250 PowerStroke King Ranch I had for a loaner a while back had leather seats that were like sitting in a saddle - real thick leather.
[/div]
I just saw a picture of that leather - Ford calls it "Castano leather". It looks like an actual cowhide! Gotta get the some for the Mark after my thin stuff wears out.
[div class="dcquote"][strong]Quote[/strong]
While I concur on Ford's use of thin leather, I just wanted to say a '04 F-250 PowerStroke King Ranch I had for a loaner a while back had leather seats that were like sitting in a saddle - real thick leather.
[/div]
I just saw a picture of that leather - Ford calls it "Castano leather". It looks like an actual cowhide! Gotta get the some for the Mark after my thin stuff wears out.